Human/Nature
Discover the forces that have shaped Kyneton Botanic Gardens with a series of interactive artworks. Each work contributes to a narrative tracing the sites deep-time transformation. The works are divided into three acts, and can be experienced sequentially or autonomously.
Kyneton Contemporary Arts Festival
April 14-22, 2018
ACT 01: Native/Foreign
Ephemeral installation
Location: Former Ajax Factory, 31 Beauchamp Street, Kyneton
Description: The materials used to create this installation are distinctly tenuous. Coupled into pairs, they represent a focussed sample of the relationship between humans and nature in shaping place. Each are united by Kyneton’s Botanic Gardens, and the instrumental forces that have shaped it over space and time. Botanic and geologic specimens from the Gardens, together with products of economic botany such as spices and pigments create an interactive chart for you to explore, guided by the audio narrative.
Installation details of Act 01: Native/Foreign at the former Ajax factory, with thanks to photography by Ian Hill, Vin Ryan and Viviana Barrero:
Map showing floor plan of the stencils at the former Ajax factory, which were created from botanic and geologic specimens such as dirt and spices (Act 01: Native/Foreign):
An audio narrative accompanied each of the stencils (Act 01: Native/Foreign):
ACT 02 : Global/Universal
Projection installation
Location: Kyneton Botanic Gardens Cottage
Description: This interactive installation transforms the cottage into an experimental lab. Projected light echoes the blue and red LEDs currently growing edible plants on the International Space Station. Viewed through each coloured window it transforms, and plays with the properties of light and the way we perceive colour to create illusions with form and text. The new frontier is Mars.
Act 02: Global Universal installation details, with thanks to photography by Ian Hill and Marc Eiden, moving image footage by Kent Wilson:
ACT 03 : Space/Time
Guided walk
Location: Kyneton Botanic Gardens
Description: Traverse the gardens on a narrated walk to discover the sites deep-time transformation. A series of the Gardens artefacts are examined to consider how they echo a broader relationship between humans and nature in shaping Earth, and the inspiration they provide to my artistic practice. Download the audio before setting off and use the map to guide you.
Map showing sites of interest at Kyneton Botanic Gardens, which were accompanied by an audio narrative:
